THE BOOK OF GENESIS. 1. THAT the Word of the Old Testament includes arcana of heaven, and that all its contents, to every particular, regard the Lord, his heaven, the church, faith, and the things relating to faith, no man can conceive who only views it from the letter. For the letter, or literal sense, suggests only such things as respect the externals of the Jewish church, when, nevertheless, it everywhere contains internal things, which do not in the least appear in those externals, except in a very few cases, where the Lord revealed and unfolded them to the apostles-as that sacrifices are significa tive of the Lord-and that the land of Canaan and Jerusalem are significative of heaven, on which account they are called the heavenly Canaan and Jerusalem-and that Paradise has a like signification. 2. But that all and every part of its contents, even to the most minute, not excepting the smallest jot and tittle, signify and involve spiritual and celestial things, is a truth to this day deeply hidden from the Christian world; in consequence of which little attention is paid to the Old Testament. This truth, however, might appear plainly from this single circumstance; that the Word being of the Lord, and from the Lord, could not possibly be given without containing interiorly such things as relate to heaven, to the church, and to faith. For, if this be denied, how can it be called the Word of the Lord, or be said to have any life in it? For whence is its life, but from those things which possess life? that is, except from hence, that all things in it, both generally and particularly, have relation to the Lord, who is the very Life Itself. Wherefore whatsoever does not interiorly regard Him, does not live; nay, whatsoever expression in the Word does not involve Ilim, or in its measure relate to Him, is not divine. 3. Without such a living principle, the Word, as to the letter, is dead. For it is with the Word as it is with man, who, as all Christians are taught to believe, consists of two parts, an external and an internal. The external man separate from the internal is the body, which, in such a state of separation, is dead; but the internal is that which lives and causes the external to live. internai man is the soul; and thus the Word, as to the letter alone, is like a body without a soul. B The 4. It is impossible, whilst the mind abides in the literal sense only, to see that it is full of such spiritual contents. Thus, in these first chapters of Genesis, nothing is discoverable from the literal sense, but that they treat of the creation of the world, and of the garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and also of Adam as the first-created man; and scarcely a single person supposes them to relate to any thing besides. But that they contain arcana which were never heretofore revealed, will sufficiently appear from the following pages; where it will be seen that the first chapter of Genesis, in its internal sense, treats of the NEW CREATION of man, or of his REGENERATION, in general, and specifically of the most ancient church; and this in such a manner, that there is not a single syllable which does not represent, signify, and involve something spiritual. 5. That this is really the case, in respect to the Word, it is impossible for any mortal to know, however, except from the Lord. Wherefore it is expedient here to premise, that, of the Lord's divine mercy, it has been granted me, now for several years, to be constantly and uninterruptedly in company with spirits and angels, hearing them converse with each other, and conversing with them. Hence it has been permitted me to hear and see things in another life which are astonishing, and which have never before come to the knowledge of any man, nor entered into his imagination. I have there been instructed concerning different kinds of spirits, and the state of souls after death,-concerning hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful, concerning heaven, or the most happy state of the faithful, and particularly concerning the doctrine of faith which is acknowledged throughout all heaven: on which subjects, by the divine mercy of the Lord, more will be said in the following pages. CHAPTER I. 1.* IN the beginning, the God created heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was vacuity, and emptiness, and darkness was upon the faces of the abyss. And the Spirit of God moved upon the faces of the waters. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided between the light and the darkness. It is to be observed, that the Author writing in Latin, has given his own translation, in that language, of the Hebrew text of Genesis and Exodus, in which, for the sake of the spiritual sense, he has rendered the original almost as literally as possible, and that in all important particulars, it has been deemed necessary to follow him, in this translation of the work into English. 5. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide between the waters in the waters. 7 And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters which were under the expanse, and between the waters which were above the expanse: and it was so. 8. And God called the expanse heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas: and God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the tender grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit, after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth and it was so. 12. And the earth brought forth the tender grass, the herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree bearing fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14. And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years: 15. And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16. And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars: 17. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; 18. And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, the creeping thing, the living soul; and let the fowl fly above the earth, upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens. 21. And God created great whales, and every living soul that creepeth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, ard fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl shall be multips! i. the earth. 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living soul after its kind; the beast, and the thing moving itself, and the wild beast of the earth, after its kind: and it was so. 25. And God made the wild beast of the earth after its kind, and the beast after its kind, and every thing that creepeth on the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be ye fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth. 29. And God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the faces of all the earth, and every tree in which is fruit; the tree yielding seed, to you, it shall be for meat, 30. And to every wild beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living soul, every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and be hold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. THE CONTENTS. 6. THE six days, or times, which are so many successive states of the regeneration of man, are in general as follows. 7. The first state is that which precedes, including both the state of infancy, and the state immediately before regeneration. This is called vacuity, emptiness, and darkness, and the first motion, which is the Mercy of the Lord, is the Spirit of God moving upon the faces of the waters. 8. The second state is when a division takes place between those things which are of the Lord, and such as are proper to man. The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word remains, and are here principally the knowledges of faith, which have been learnt from infancy, and which are stored up, and are not manifested till man comes into this state. This state at the present day seldom exists without temptation, misfortune, or sorrow, by which the things appertaining to the body and the world, that is, such as form the proprium or self-hood of man, are brought into a state of quiescence, and, as it were, of death. Thus the things which belong to the external man are separated from those belonging to the internal. In the internal man are the remains, stored up by the Lord till this time, and for this purpose. 9. The third state is that of repentance, in which the regenerating subject, from the internal man begins to discourse piously and devoutly, and to do good actions, like works of charity, but which nevertheless are inanimate, because they are supposed to originate in himself. These good actions are called tender grass, and also the herb yielding seed, and afterwards the tree bearing fruit. 10. The fourth state is when man becomes affected with love, and illuminated by faith. He indeed previously discoursed piously, and produced the fruit of good actions; but he did so in consequence of the temptation and straightness under which he labored, and not from a principle of faith and charity: wherefore faith and charity are now enkindled in his internal man, and are called two luminaries. 11. The fifth state is when man discourses from a principle of faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth and goodness: the things then produced by him are animated, and are called the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens. 12. The sixth state is when, from a principle of faith, and thence of love, he speaks what is true, and does what is good; the things which he then produces are called the living soul and the wild beast. And because he then begins also to act from a principle of love, as well as of faith, he becomes a spiritual man, and is called an image. His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things as relate to knowledges respecting faith, and to works of charity, which are called his meat; and his natural life is delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the body and the senses; from whence a combat or struggle arises, until love gains the dominion, and he becomes a celestial man. 13. Those who are regenerated do not all arrive at this state. The greatest part, at this day, only attain to the first state: some only to the second; others to the third, fourth, and fifth; few to the sixth; and scarcely any one to the seventh. THE INTERNAL SENSE. 14. IN the following work, by the LORD, is solely meant Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, who is called the Lord, without |